How to Achieve Success in Your Life

How can you improve your chances of success?

Think positively. Perception is reality so every single thought you have is in some way impacting your life. Only you can choose whether this impact will be positive or negative. And the best way to help you achieve the best success in all areas of your life is to start thinking positively. You have nothing to lose by eliminating negative thoughts and everything to gain if you begin to approach everything you do in a positive way.

Can you train yourself to think positively?

Of course, you can. It will take time but you can train yourself to think positively in almost all situations. It takes determination and a mindset open to positive thoughts. It will be hard work because thinking negative, pessimistic thoughts seems to require less effort than thinking positively in the face of adversity. But it can be done and here is how.

Daydreaming

Use daydreaming as a tool to help you think positively about just about anything you want in your life. Daydreaming is a great way of focusing on the future that you want. All you're really doing is using your imagination or visualizing. Most people do it all the time, but not always positively. A lot of people spend time worrying about future events they have no control over; there is no point in doing this. It will only deplete your energy which you should be using to achieve your goals.

Encourage yourself to daydream positively and focus on positive scenarios if even it seems silly or unrealistic. This will help you develop a positive mindset, a good way of approaching problems and hopefully, with the right practical application, solving these in the future.

Two successful ways to daydream

There are two good ways of imagining: process and result. You can choose which one you want to start with and then give it a try.

Whichever you choose, make sure you are prepared to immerse yourself fully in the experience - bring all your senses into it (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste) and do it as often as you can. It will really help you focus on what you want to achieve.

One way of imagining will work better; it always does depending on your personality but both ways are equally as good. Process imagining occurs when you start in the present and move towards the future. Result imagining occurs when you start with a dream - the end result you wish for - and you slowly work out how to achieve it.

How does 'process' work?

Process imagining takes you from the beginning of the activity to its end. Let's say you want to swim faster. The process way is to imagine yourself getting ready for the swim, jumping into the water, imagine the actual swim in the water and really feeling it, then finishing the swim and feeling how good you actually feel.

How does 'result' work?

Result imagining begins with the results and rewinds to the beginning. Using the example of faster swimming again, you imagine yourself winning the race, hearing the applause and seeing the result on the board. Again, you are experiencing the feeling of what it feels like to swim faster and win that race, and then working backwards through the process to see how you've achieved it.

Will positive daydreaming help improve my life?

Definitely. The above mentioned methods of improving your mindset can be applied to just about anything. Obviously, if you're just imagining success without taking any practical steps to achieve your goals, you will get nowhere so make sure you follow your positive daydreaming with real life action.

Remember, success starts with one positive thought in the right direction.

Set Your Goals and Achieve

Setting your career goals in three easy steps

You just have to find the time to think about what your needs are and what you want to achievein the future. Setting your career goals takes three easy steps.

Step one: Make a list

You start by writing down everything you want to achieve in your professional life. Take into account career development and finances as well as how your family life will fit into your professional life to enable you to achieve your goals. It may take just 5 minutes of your time to create a list that will be worth a lot if you follow it.

What kind of questions should you ask when compiling your list?

The type of questions you should be asking while making your list should pertain to all areas of your career and finances.

What are your personal goals regarding your position in the industry you're in?

What do you want your net worth to be?

When do you want to retire?

How much investment income should you strive for to retire in your preferred age bracket?

By what age do you see yourself being financially independent?

How do you go about achieving your financial independnce?

What are your money management goals?

Do you have a budget you stick to?

Do you balance your accounts?

Could you benefit from having a financial adviser?

Will you diversify your investments; is so how?

What are the areas of your interest regarding investment opportunities?

Do you have a retirement savings plan?

It is also advisable to include family planning questions such as:

Do you want to contribute to your children's tertiary education?

Are you going to be taking regular holidays and travel with your family?

Do you have any spare money to put aside for things you might want to have in the future?

On a personal development level:

What are your career goals?

How will you contribute to advancing yourself within the company or advancing your company?

What role would you like to play in your workplace?

Do you want to advance in your profession?

Step two - set a time limit to each one of your goals

After you've written your list of personal, career and financial goals, take a moment to think about the time frame in which you'd like your goals to be achieved. If you are committed to accomplishing your goals you have to set a realistic time limit. This will motivate you towards working hard to achieve your goals. You have to be committed to doing the hard work.

Step three - Choose one goal and elaborate

Choose one your most important goals in the career/business arena and take a few minutes to write a paragraph about it. You need to explain your commitment to this goal and why it is so important for you to achieve it. Outline the reasons that drive you and make you excited about the process of attaining that goal. You have to believe in your abilities which will help you to follow through with your actions. Once you've achieved this one, move onto other goals. You will see it becomes easier as you go along.